“I knew I was innocent” - Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr. makes official statement after being cleared of rape charges

On Thursday, the Douglas County jury found Terrence Shannon Jr. not guilty of rape and aggravated assault. He had been accused of inappropriately touching a woman and penetrating her with his fingers at a Kansas bar in September.

After all court proceedings, Shannon Jr. released a statement on X:

"Thank you to everyone who stood by me these last nine months. I knew I was innocent of these horrible crimes and I had faith in God that someday everyone else would know that too.

"I am so grateful to all of you for believing in me, especially my family, friends and legal teams whose support kept me going. I'm ready to put this chapter of my life behind me and fully focus on my path forward."

Immediately after he was charged in December, Illinois suspended Terrence Shannon Jr. from playing, citing student-athlete misconduct. Shannon sued the school on January 8, and 11 days later, he regained his right back to play after Judge Colleen Lawless ruled that the school violated his civil rights.

His return to the court was not easy, as he often faced taunts from the crowd in the arena, who chanted "no means no" whenever he played. One notable instance of this occurred during the Big Ten title game on March 17, when Wisconsin fans did the same.

After enduring this for a whole season, Terrence Shannon Jr. will now prepare for the 2024 NBA draft and is a projected first-round pick.

LeBron James and Cole Hawkins come out in support of Terrence Shannon Jr.

After the news of Terrence Shannon Jr's acquittal broke, many on the internet called out "fans" and experts who had been extremely harsh on the guard. Among them was LeBron James, who tweeted:

"To my Young [king] Terrance Shannon Jr! Love and Salute you! Proud of you!! God is Good! The apologies should be 30X louder than the hate he got but we know how it goes. Anyways back to the regular scheduled program. Great days ahead!"

After three years with the Texas Tech Raider, Shannon Jr. transferred to Illinois and played alongside Coleman Hawkins for two seasons. Hawkins also tweeted his support, as he wrote:

"Not celebrating because I know who my guy is… imagine playing in front of sell out crowds with people saying the craziest things to you and you’re innocent. Extremely proud of my guy to be able to block out all that noise and compete at an extremely high level. 💯🙏🏽🤑"